Scottish Mountains & Hills | VisitScotland Grahams Opens a new window UK's highest mountain Ben Nevis grabs the headlines as the highest mountain in the UK, but there are hundreds of other peaks worthy of your best boots. Scotland's next five highest peaks are in the Cairngorms , a huge area of upland with the pulsing outdoor hub of Aviemore at its heart. Experienced walkers' hearts will flutter when they see the Cuillin ridge in Skye. This magnificent alpine-style route is unlike anything else in the UK, with a continuous 12 km ridge crest demanding concentration on every step. There are also formidable Munros at Lochnagar, Glen Affric and the wilds of Knoydart. Southern Uplands Although 'the Scottish Highlands' are in the north of the country, if you head south past the central lowlands, you'll enter a whole new world of character-packed hills. In Dumfries & Galloway is the mighty Merrick, which stands just shy of Munro status. Towards the east are the seductive rolling summits of the Moorfoot and Lammermuir ranges.

Winding all the way through this adventurer's playground is the Southern Upland Way , a long distance trail that stretches for 212 miles (341 km) from coast to coast. Small but beautiful Sometimes the best things do come in small packages. Stac Pollaidh is one of Scotland's most distinctive hills and from start to finish an utter joy to climb. The path starts off steadily, rising in gentle circuit of the hill's shoulders. For the final summit push you'll need your hands, feet and all your wits in a thrilling scramble. From the top, the views of the scattered peaks and surrounding loch-strewn wilds are astonishing. Who says you have to go up the hills to enjoy them? Walk through Glencoe or Glen Shiel and you can enjoy the soaring ridges and huge buttresses from a gentle riverside path. In the Trossachs you can picnic by a loch and admire the crumpled rocky peaks that inspired Sir Walter Scott to write his classic novel Rob Roy. Mountain city You don't even have to leave the city to enjoy Scotland's hills - Edinburgh has a mini-mountain right in its midst! Arthur's Seat is a rugged ancient volcano surrounded by open parkland.

You can explore three lochs, hidden glens, spectacular cliffs and meet some surprising wildlife. You can also climb to the hill's summit in just half an hour for the best possible views of Scotland's capital city. Munros Sir Hugh Munro could never have guessed what he was starting when he compiled his list of Scotland's 3,000 ft hills in 1891. Climbing the 282 Munros is now an iconic achievement for keen hillwalkers. If you complete a 'round' you will also have explored some of the most beautiful and remote landscapes in Europe. Ben Lomond, just north of Glasgow, is many people's first Munro. The Isle of Skye has 12 Munros, all very challenging. Corbetts The Munros certainly make up a magical list, but hillwalkers who ignore Scotland's Corbetts are missing out on some amazing days out. Classic Corbetts include The Cobbler, Ben Ledi and Arkle. Grahams If you're new to hillwalking or simply fancy a gentle walk in the country, you'll find the Grahams offer some wonderful days of adventure.

Try Tinto Hill in the Borders, Marsco on Skye and Suilven in the far north. Glens There wouldn't be any hills without glens to separate the summits! Take time to enjoy these scenic valleys and you'll be surprised by emerald lochs, fairy pools, historic battle sites, and Harry Potter's steam train. Got a couple of minutes? You could climb a Munro! No, really - it’s possible thanks to our 360 degree outdoors adventure movies , and you don’t even need a raincoat! Looking for a new hillwalking adventure? Start climbing Arthurs! The 'Arthurs' are 20 major peaks that can be seen from Arthur's Seat in the centre of Edinburgh. The list include hills as far away as Lochnagar, 69 miles (111 km) to the north, Ben Lomond to the west and Schiehallion; it's an eclectic mix of Munros, Corbetts and Grahams. Get travel tips by email Sign up to our emails for inspiring travel ideas, news, offers and much more.

Scottish Mountains | Scotland Outdoors Scottish Mountains Posted on March 9, 2011 by admin Scottish mountains have a curious system of being catalogued according to their height. The highest mountains are called Munros, after Sir Hugh Munro who measured all Scottish mountains back in 1891 and listed them in the so called Munros Tables. In order to make the list, a mountain needs to pass the 3000 feet mark (914.4 metres). Over the years these tables have suffered various modifications. At the moment, the Scottish Mountaineering Club grants 283 mountains the honour of being a Munro. There are also 227 additional “Tops”, peaks that fulfill the height criteria, but are part of a ridge or a range and too close to a Munro for being counted as a separate mountain. The activity of climbing all of the Munros is called “Munrobagging”, a popular sport in Scotland.

Munro: Carn Dearg (1221 m), The North-West Top Of Ben Nevis, Above A Cloud Inversion If a mountain is less than 3000 feet but more than 2500 feet (762 metres) high, it is called a Corbett. The Corbett list includes 221 mountains. Apart from their height, another parameter for a Corbett is to have a re-ascent of at least 500 feet on all sides. They owe their name to John Rooke Corbett, a Scottish mountaineer and one of the first climbers to complete all Munros. Corbett-bagging should not be regarded as inferior to Munrobagging. There are many fine mountains among the Corbetts whose ascent is more difficult than a Munro’s. For people who can see beyond the Munros, the Corbetts are definitely worth of a good number of days out. Corbetts: Foinaven With Loch Blarloch In The Foreground Next, there are the Grahams: mountains with heights between 2000 feet (610 metres) and 2499 feet (761 metres).

They were formerly known as Elsies (Lower Corbetts, LCs, that’s Scottish humour for you), but were renamed after Fiona Torbet (born Graham), who published her own list of mountains meeting the criteria in 1992. The original list of Elsies and Torbet’s new list were combined into a single list which is today known as Grahams. There are 224 Grahams on the list, including 7 island Grahams. View Grahams: Beinn Talaidh At The Head Of Glen Forsa Finally, there are even more Scottish mountain categories that I want to mention briefly: Donalds, New Donalds and Marilyns. Donalds are basically a collection of Scottish Lowland hills over 2000 feet, named after a list by Percy Donald. However, the criteria were not complicated and not always clear, which is why the New Donalds list came into being, trying to rationalize the criteria. According to the definition, the New Donalds are “hills in Central or Southern Scotland at least 2000 feet high (610m) with a drop of at least 30 metres (98 feet) all round”.

A Marilyn is “a hill of any height with a drop of 150 metres (nearly 500 ft) or more on all sides”. That means that any Munro, Corbett, Graham or Donald can also be a Marilyn. It basically refers to a hill that is relatively high compared to its surroundings. Alan Dawson compiled the list, but decided to name these mountains “Marilyn”, after the more famous Munro list – another example of Scottish humour. Here are lists of the Top Ten Munros, Corbetts and Grahams. I want to make it clear that these are Top Ten lists in terms of height only, not in terms of beauty or difficulty!

The Ten Highest Munros: Ben Nevis: 4409 feet or 1344 metres (Ben Nevis Range) Ben Macdui: 4295 feet or 1309 metres (Cairngorm range) Braeriach: 4252 feet or 1296 metres (Cairngorm range) Cairn Toul: 4236 feet or 1291 metres (Cairngorm range) Sgor an Lochain Uaine: 4236 feet or 1258 metres (Cairngorm range) Cairngorm: 4081 feet or 1244 metres (Cairngorm range) Aonach Beag: 4049 feet or 1234 metres (Nevis & Grey Corries range) Aonach Mor: 4006 feet or 1221 metres (Nevis & Grey Corries range) Carn Mor Dearg: 4003 feet or 1220 metres (Ben Nevis range) Ben Lawers: 3983 feet or 1214 metres (Ben Lawers range

) The Ten Highest Corbetts: Beinn Dearg: 2999 feet or 914 metres (Glen Tromie to Glen Tilt) Foinaven: 2999 feet or 914 metres (Coigach and Cape Wrath) Sgurr ‘Choire-bheithe: 2995 feet or 913 metres (Glen Etive to Glen Lochy) Beinn ‘Bhreac: 2992 feet or 912 metres (Loch Rannoch to Glen Lyon) Leathad an Taobhain: 2992 feet or 912 metres (Loch Rannoch to Glen Lyon) The Fara: 2989 feet or 911 metres (Inveraray to Crianlarich) Beinn Dearg Mor: 2986 feet or 910 metres (Pitlochry to Braemar and Blairgowrie) Meall Buidhe: 2986 feet or 910 metres (Strathyre to Strathallan) Beinn nan Oighreag: 2982 feet or 

909 metres (Strathyre to Strathallan) Leum Uilleim: 2982 feet or 909 metres (Inveraray to Crianlarich) The Ten Highest Grahams: Beinn Talaidh: 2497 feet or 761 metres (Mull) Cnoc Coinnich: 2497 feet or 761 metres (Loch Goil to Long Long) Sgurr ‘Chaorainn: 2497 feet or 761 metres (Strontian, Lochaber) Beinn ‘Chapull: 2490 feet or 759 metres (Inverinan Forest, Argyll) Carn an Tionail: 2490 feet or 759 metres (Carn Dearg, Sutherland) Shee of Ardtalnaig: 2490 feet or 759 metres; (Loch Tay, Perthshire) Beinn Shiantaidh: 2484 feet or 757 metres (Jura) Creag Dubh: 2480 feet or 756 metres (Mon

adhliath range) Cook’s Cairn: 2477 feet or 755 metres (Blackwater Forest, Moray) The Stob: 2470 feet or 753 metres (Braes of Balquhidder) After all this theory, don’t get carried away.

Remember what this is all about: Climbing a mountain should be an enjoyable experience: a day out in the nature, a physical exercise and a break from your day to day routine. Don’t become obsessed with “having to” bag this or that mountain or whether the mountain is a Munro, “only” a Corbett or, even “worse”, a Graham. Please share your experiences about Scottish mountains and hillwalking, I’d love to hear about your stories! Scottish Mountaineering Club The Munros, Corbetts, Grahams, Donalds & Furths The Munros The list of separate mountains, as drawn up by Sir H.T. Munro in the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal in 1891, was an unfinished one at the time of his death. His intention was to list the Scottish mountains of 3000ft and over which were of 'sufficient separation' from neighbouring tops to merit a listing. He did not write down a precise definition of what he meant by separation, though the character of a mountain did enter into it. Through regular use they have become known as the Munros.

The current list of 282 Munros and 509 tops is from the 2012 revision. Under the metric system, a Munro has to be 914.4m or higher. There were some anomalies in the original list, obvious to anyone who regularly hillwalks in Scotland. I remember doing the Beinn Eighe ridge ages ago, with no knowledge of its precise stature in the hallowed Munros Tables. I was convinced that it was a three-Munro ridge, and was very surprised indeed to find later that it was down as only one. Since then of course, the list has been revised. In essence, there were eight new Munros and one demotion! And I'm pleased to see that Beinn Eighe is now two Munros.With further research, and perhaps a firming up of whatever rules went through Munro's head at the time, it is fairly sure that obvious errors such as this one would have been corrected.

Publishing the List, and maintaining a benign eye over it through the years, the SMC took the hard line, and other than promoting/demoting a few hills due to more accurately surveyed heights by the Ordnance Survey (themselves not perfect either), they have not strayed from the Munro line. The Munro Beinn a' Bheithir (Photo: Ken Crocket) F.F. Bonsall also made attempts to arrive at a definition of what is a separate mountain, in two articles in the SMC Journal (1973, 1974). A mathematician, Bonsall looked at the separation of a top from all higher ground, rather than just the separation from higher tops. He also used as a basis Naismith's Rule, a simple rule which allows an easy calculation of the time taken to walk from one hill point to another, for a reasonably fit and steady walker. Naismith's Rule, in the old Imperial system, goes: 20 minutes for every mile of horizontal distance, and 3 minutes for every 100 feet of ascent. In metric this approximates as: 4.5km/hr plus one minute per 10m ascent.

Bonsall then took as a starting point a separation of 30 minutes, and found that using these arguments, there was very good agreement with Munro's original list. In fact, Munro probably deserves a pat on the head, as, according to Bonsall, seven Munros should be demoted, and twelve tops promoted. Not too bad a piece of work by Munro in 1891, using existing maps and aneroid barometer! As of summer 2003, over 3000 walkers have admitted their compleations to the SMC, and have been given a compleation number in the SMC Journal. Many others have probably finished, but have decided to remain anonymous. The SMC will also pass out Compleation Certificates to those reporting in, suitable for framing. See the current SMC Journal for details.(The archaic spelling of compleation here is fast becoming a convention with regards to Munroists.) The Corbetts John Rooke Corbett was a district valuer based in Bristol and a keen member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) in the years between the two World Wars.

He was a distinguished student at Cambridge University and an original member of the Rucksack Club. Corbett was a regular attendee at SMC meets, a committee member and joint editor of the second edition of the Northern Highlands guidebook. He completed the Munros and Tops in 1930, only the second person to do so and, more remarkably, he climbed all Scotland's 2000ft hills. Out of this extensive experience and knowledge came Corbett's eponymous tables in which he listed all those hills of height between 2500ft (762m) and 3000ft (914.4m) with a drop of at least 500ft (152.4m) between each listed hill and any adjacent higher one. In this way the separation between the Corbetts is more clearly defined than is the case with the Munros. The fairly large height drop between Corbetts ensures that they are quite distinct hills, unlike the Munros where the criterion for separation does not involve a rigidly fixed drop between adjacent summits. When Corbett died, his list was passed to the SMC by his sister.

As has been the case with the Munros, the list of Corbetts has changed over the years as a result of changes in hill and bealach heights measured by the Ordnance Survey (OS). The present (September 2016) list contains 222 Corbetts. The Corbett Stob Dubh, Glen Etive. (Photo: Ken Crocket) Corbett's list, along with Percy Donald's list of 2000ft hills in Southern Scotland, has been added to Munro's tables to create the book Munros Tables of which the most recent edition came out in 1997. One additional section has been introduced for the Corbetts, namely Section 0 - Galloway and the Borders - which does not feature in the list of the Munros. In addition, a new sub-section has been introduced: Section 10a for Morvern, Sunart, Ardgour and Moidart, an area of the Western Highlands which has no Munros and which, if added to the existing Section 10, would cover a disproportionately large area of the Highlands.

The area of Section 10 of the Munros becomes Section 10b in the Corbetts book and CD-ROM . The geographical division between Sections 5 and 6 goes through the Gaick Pass between the neighbouring hills of An Dun and A Chaoirnich, which can be climbed most logically together. These two hills are described together in Section 6. Corbetts's list includes so many fine and favourite hills that any hillwalker with much experience of the Highlands and Islands is certain to have climbed many of them, even if they have not set out systematically to climb all the Corbetts. The Munros may well form the mountain heartland of most of the Highlands, but the Corbetts have their place in the geography of our hills. In some areas, for example the Cairngorms, they are the outliers of the main mountains; in others they fill the gaps between them; thirdly (and most impressively) they are the principal peaks in those parts of the Highlands where there are few if any Munros. Hillwalkers who concentrate their efforts entirely on the Munros will be in danger of missing many of the best of Scottish mountains.

Height alone is no criterion and there are in the ranks of the Corbetts many peaks of great character, interest and beauty that are the equal of all but a few Munros. Dedicated Munroists in their travels will acquire a detailed knowledge of many parts of the Highlands, but not all. There will be gaps in their knowledge which an exploration of the Corbetts will fill, and this provides another very good reason for climbing these hills. Many a remote and unfrequented Corbett commands summit views of great quality. Exploration can and should be extended still further by climbing some other lower hills which are included in the book and CD-ROM, hills chosen for inclusion by reason of their character and interest. It would be wrong to think of the Corbetts as lesser hills, giving shorter and easier expeditions than the Munros. Many of them, particularly those which rise from near sea-level in the Western and Northern Highlands and the islands and some of the remote hills of the Grampians, give climbs that are long and demanding. Baosbheinn, Beinn Dearg Mhor and Foinaven are just three examples of Corbetts whose traverses are major hillwalking days.

The separateness of the Corbetts resulting from the 500ft drop criterion means that there are few instances where three or four or more can be combined in long traverses such as are possible with the Munros. There is only one example in the book and CD-ROM where a traverse of more than three Corbetts is described. In no part of the mainland do the Corbetts contribute more to the mountainous character of the land than in the Western and Northern Highlands. In Ardgour and Moidart, for example, where there are no Munros, peaks such as Garbh Bheinn, Sgurr Dhomhnuill, Sgurr Ghiubhsachain and Rois-Bheinn dominate the wild landscape. Just to their north, Streap, Bidean a Chabhair and Ben Aden yield nothing except a few metres of height to the big peaks of western Lochaber and Knoydart.

In Applecross, Coulin and Torridon the Corbetts may be rather overshadowed by the three great mountains - Beinn Alligin, Liathach and Beinn Eighe, but Beinn Bhan, Fuar Tholl, Beinn Dearg and Baosbheinn are splendid peaks which equally exhibit the classic features of Torridonian mountain. The Grahams The Grahams is a collective name given to all the distinct mountains in Scotland which are between 2,000 and 2,499 feet (610 and 761 metres), and which have at least a 150 metre drop between them. Scottish hills within this height range were previously called Elsies (short for Lesser Corbetts - LCs). They have since been renamed Grahams in memory of Fiona Torbet (neé Graham), who published her own list of these hills in 1992. The original list of Elsies, and the new list of Grahams, were rationalised and combined into a single list, known today as the Grahams.

Ben Suidhe (Photo: Ken Crocket) There are 224 separate Grahams, spead over the whole of Scotland - even seven of the Islands contain Grahams. Note that many of the Grahams are also Donalds. The Donalds Hills in Central or Southern Scotland at least 2000 feet high (610m) with a drop of at least 30 metres (98 feet) all round. Devised by Percy Donald, a listing may be found (along with the Munros and Corbetts, in the SMC Publication 'Munros Tables'. Basically, Tops are elevations with a drop of 100 feet (30.48m) on all sides and elevations of sufficient topographical merit with a drop of between 100 feet and 50 feet (15.24m) on all sides.

Ben Cleuch (Photo: Ken Crocket) Tops are not more than 17 units from the main top of the 'hill' to which they belong, where a unit is either one twelfth of a mile measured along the connecting ridge, or one 50-foot contour between the lower 'top' and its connecting col. If this is beginning to give you a headache, the basic result is that with few exceptions, an 80-feet (24.38m) drop determines a 'top', and the 17-unit rule a 'hill'. The Furths What are Tops and Furths ? The Munroist’s bible, “MUNRO’S TABLES AND OTHER TABLES OF LOWER HILLS” Revised and Edited by Derek A. Bearhop (Scottish Mountaineering Trust, 1997) lists all the Scottish Mountains of 3000 feet height and above. The 282 Munros plus 227 Tops give a total of 509 summits.

The Furths comprise those summits which are generally recognised as being the 3000 ft peaks of the British Isles furth of Scotland as follows :- England Summits of Great Britain Some Mountains, Hills and Summits of Great Britain These pages feature some of the many mountains, hills, fells, summits and high points in Britain. The criteria for inclusion are that (1) I've climbed the hill in question, and (2) that I've taken a photo at the summit. Wherever possible there is also a picture of the hill from a neighbouring summit or adjacent valley, or a picture of the view from the top. Ben Nevis, the highest summit in Britain Page 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 Britain is a small country yet it has a surprising diversity of landscapes and a considerable expanse of upland areas. We've got mountains, hills, fells, escarpments, heaths, moors and downs.

We've got grassy summits, rocky summits, forested summits and even suburban summits. We've got odd, isolated hills rising from flat plains, we've got ranges of mountains, we've got clusters of fells, we've got huge upland plateaux of both mountain and moor. During the last 150 years or so the recreational use of our high ground has taken hold. People love to ramble, to hike, to hillwalk and to climb. It was perhaps inevitable that some of the explorers would turn to listing and classifying the hills that they'd climbed or aspired to climb. Thus there are many lists of British hills, each of them defined by a variety of criteria. Scottish mountains over 3000 ft high? There's a list. English hills exceeding 2000 ft? There's a list, in fact more than one. All UK hills with a relative height of 500ft or more? Yes, there's a list. Every list is different, and some are controversial. Disputes arise over just how you define your criteria. What makes a hill a hill, what makes a mountain a mountain? What, in essence, is the difference?

If a hill has more than one top, how do you define which are principal summits and which are mere outliers? When does a mountain with several summits stop being a mountain and start being a mountain range? The problem is, of course, that all these things are subjective. Everyone has different opinions. In an attempt to satisfy these differences there are a variety of overlapping lists with different inclusion criteria for height, reascent, relative height, proportional height and distance. I recently found a quote on the web (and I regret that I've lost the reference), which says, "ultimately you can't define mountains by numbers." It's absolutely true. Every list, inevitably, contains summits that simply aren't interesting, and leaves out many that are. But that doesn't deter the "baggers" and list-tickers. We know that these lists are artificial, yet they represent a ready-made challenge which many cannot resist. There are those who dedicate themselves to climbing all the Munros, or all the Corbetts, or all the Wainwrights or Marilyns or whaterer else takes their fancy. I'll never complete any of the lists. (Well, perhaps the Wainwrights if I'm lucky).

I'm a fair weather walker, I don't like exposure to steep drops, and I don't drive so many hills are beyond my reach. But I do love hills and mountains and summits, and I visit those I can whenever the opportunity arises. In these pages I want to share some of them with you. Below are some notes on the various lists. Munros (and Munro Tops) Mountains in the Scottish Highlands over 3000 ft, as listed by Sir Hugh Munro late in the 19th century. The feat of completing the Munros is still the ultimate achievement for hillwalkers and summit baggers. Munro divided his list into two sections - principal summits, and outlying "tops". However he defined neither, and many feel that he left glaring anomalies and inconsistencies. Tops to which Wainwright would have given a whole chapter languish in obscurity, having been defined neither as a Munro or a Top. Cairn Gorm, for instance, has thirteen recognisable summits; Munro defined Cairngorm itself as the principal summit but only 5 of the other 12 are Tops.

Liathach, which most people think of as a single mountain, was regarded by Munro as a range and given two principal summits. Neighbouring Beinn Eighe, however, which has a more extensive and complex ridge than Liathach, got only one Munro - Ruadh Stac Mor, which topographically is an outlier some way off the main ridge. Re-surveying by the OS over the years has resulted in a number of summits either being promoted to or demoted from the list. Beinn Teallach in the Monadhliath range seems to have changed lists more than once. More contentious are the changes in status which the Scottish Mountaineering Club have introduced over the years - Tops have become Munros, Munros have become Tops, undefined summits have also come and gone. The SMC take a committee, and therefore consensus, approach to these changes, but they still remain subjective and some of them still appear to be inconsistent to outside observers. It's a debate that may continue indefinitely. There are currently 283 Munros and a further 227 Tops. All Munros are also Murdos (see below).

Some writers refer to the Furth Munros - these are other British mountains that would qualify as Munros if the definition were extended to cover the whole country rather than just the Scottish Highlands. There are four Furth Munros in England and fifteen in Wales. A subset, Metric Munros (Metros) has been proposed, which would include all Munros over 1000 metres in altitude. Murdos The Murdos are an attempt by writer and walker Alan Dawson to rationalise the Munro list. In his introduction on the Tacit Press website , he says:- "The word Munro has become synonymous with Scottish mountains over 3000 feet, yet anyone who has climbed all the Munros will be aware that numerous 3000-foot summits are not counted. The list of Munro Tops might therefore be regarded as a natural progression, but few Munroists have gone on to climb all of these. [Some believe that] the Munro Tops are an unsatisfying assortment of major mountain summits and minor bumps... The list of Murdos provides a much more rational and appealing extension to the Munros.

"A Murdo is a Scottish peak over 914.4 metres high (3000 feet) with a reascent of at least 30 metres (98 feet). The 444 Murdos comprise all 277 Munros, 160 of the most significant Munro Tops and seven additional summits. The list of Murdos [includes] the most rewarding 3000-foot summits without the less significant tops." Alan Dawson has also appended a list of sub-Murdos, which are summits that just fail to qualify for inclusion in the list (useful, as resurveys may promote at least some of them to full Murdohood some day). One writer has had the idea of extending the definition of Murdos throughout the British Isles. In this scenario, in addition to the 444 Murdos in Scotland there are also 6 in England, 15 in Wales and 13 in Ireland. Corbetts John Rooke Corbett's list encompasses all of Scotland, not just the Highlands.

He listed summits that are above 2500 ft in height and are not already Munros; furthermore, he stipulates a minimum 500 ft reascent. This extra rule excludes less significant tops and gives his hills a degree of distinction. Effectively the Corbetts are a "second division" of peaks in the Highlands. Resurveys occasionally promote and delete hills to and from this list; there are currently 221 Corbetts. Rather more recently a list of Corbett Tops has been produced, and also one of Corbett Tops of Munros. Corbett Tops have a 100 ft reascent criterion, the same as Murdos. Some walkers also refer to English and Welsh 2500-ers as Furth Corbetts or Welsh / English Corbetts. All Corbetts are also Marilyns (see below), save for one specific exception involving two adjacent Corbetts with identical heights. Donalds Donalds (after the compiler, Percy Donald) are Scottish hills outwith the Highlands, with a minimum height of 2000 ft.

His list is subjective in that it stipulates no reascent figure, but in practice all Donalds have a reascent of at least 100 ft and there are no apparent omissions or anomalies. The original list covered the Southern Uplands but a small number of hills close to (but outside) the Highland Boundary Fault have recently been appended. There are 87 Donalds. Some hills are both Donalds and Corbetts. Grahams Basically, all Scottish hills between 2000 and 2500 ft. A "Third Division" if you like, though this category includes some significant and popular mountains such as Suilven and Stac Polly. Like the Corbetts, a reascent of at least 500 ft is stipulated. This list of hills was first published in The Relative Hills of Britain (Alan Dawson, Cicerone Press, 1992). Originally, Scottish hills in this height range were referred to as Elsies (short for Lesser Corbetts). They have since been renamed Grahams in memory of the late Fiona Torbet (née Graham), who compiled her own list of such hills at around the same time.

Her initial list omitted all hills in Southern Scotland and about a dozen in the Highlands, but included several hills with less than 150 metres of reascent. To avoid having two conflicting lists, it was agreed to use the existing list published in The Relative Hills... (with a few name changes), but to refer to the hills as Grahams. There are 224 Grahams. Some hills are both Donalds and Grahams; all Grahams are also Marilyns (see below). There is also a list of Graham Tops (of Munros, Corbetts and Grahams); these , like the Corbett Tops, have a reascent of 100 ft. Marilyns The Marilyns are another invention of writer and walker Alan Dawson and represent an attempt to rationalise the differences in criteria between the various lists covering Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England-and-Wales or the British Isles as a whole. However, it introduces a quirk of its own - it stipulates a *relative* height of 500 ft from all surrounding terrain. The Marilyns cover all Britain but exclude Ireland.

Very recently the 500 ft criterion appears to have been "metricated" to 150 metres, but this has made no actual difference to the list itself. This 500 ft (or 150m) relative height stipulation brings in hill summits in relatively minor English hill ranges such as the Cotswolds and Lincolnshire Wolds, some of which might be regarded as obscure, boring or remote – but of course the same can be said of certain Munros. The higher Scottish Marilyns are also Munros or Corbetts (or Murdos); those between 2000 and 2400 ft high are the same as the Grahams (see above). A major advantage of Marilyn bagging is that it encourages you to explore parts of Britain that other lists don't cover, but a downside is that it brings in tops on several remote Scottish islands (such as St Kilda), plus a small handful of fearsome sea stacks that require advanced climbing skills. Some Marilyns are barred from public access and it seems doubtful whether anyone will ever succeed in climbing all of them.

There are 1554 Marilyns at present though the number fluctuates occasionally as maps are republished with newly surveyed contours, or independent surveys accepted by the OS establish more accurate heights. A list of sub-Marilyns (those that don't quite make it either on the height or reascent criteria) has also been compiled. Some additional info from the compiler, Alan Dawson: "In essence Marilyns are similar to Corbetts, but whereas Corbetts are only between 2500 and 3000 feet high and are only found in Scotland, Marilyns may be from 500 to 4500 feet high and are found throughout Scotland, England and Wales.

It must be admitted that not every single one of the Marilyns is terrifically interesting, but a high proportion of them are significant summits or local landmarks, whereas the list excludes many of the more tedious summits that have been included in other lists." For comprehensive information see Alan's website, The Relative Hills of Britain Wainwrights The 214 Lakeland summits listed in Alfred Wainwright's seven volumes have never officially been given the collective description of "The Wainwrights" but the definition seem to have come into popular usage almost by default. Wainwright stipulated a specific, tightly-bound area within which he listed and surveyed every summit above 1000ft, though there was no reascent or distance criterion, several blatant omissions (e.g. Walna Scar, over 2000ft high, south of Coniston Old Man) and a sentimental inclusion or two (e.g Castle Crag in Borrowdale). As well as being subjective his list was also inconsistent. For instance, he gives Scafell Pike two Tops (Broad Crag and Ill Crag), yet Skiddaw Low Man is listed as a separate fell.

Few would regard Armboth Fell as a separate hill, particularly as half a dozen similar bumps attached to neighbouring Ullscarf were given no such distinction. Several other Wainwrights, such as Pavey Ark, are not even summits but merely appear to be so when viewed from below. And as for Mungrisedale Common.... it seems likely that AW was just filling space in Book 5. Having said all that, the Wainwrights remain as the finest list of Lakeland hills bar none. Hewitts Another invention of Alan Dawson, and introduced and listed by him in The Relative Hills of Britain . An acronym - Hills in England, Wales or Ireland over Two Thousand feet high. There is a reascent criterion of 30 meters (100 ft approx). Previously the Hewitts were known as the "Sweats" and excluded Ireland. There are 525 Hewitts in total: 178 in England, 138 in Wales and 212 in Ireland. Apart from the 211 Irish Hewitts many hills in this list are also Marylins and may also be Wainwrights.

All Hewitts are also Nuttalls (see below). Nuttalls John and Anne Nuttall have published a two-volume book, Mountains of England and Wales (Vol 1: Wales, Vol 2: England). These books, and the Nuttalls website , list summits over 2000 feet (610m) with a reascent of 50 feet (fifteen metres). There are 443 Nuttalls. Deweys Michael Dewey's "Mountain Tables" is currently the most recent list to appear in print, a slightly quirky publication listing English / Welsh hills lower than 2000 ft but higher than 500 metres (roughly 1550ft), with a 100 ft reascent criterion - there are 186 in England, 242 in Wales and 5 on the Isle of Man. They are in effect a second division of Hewitts.

Clements Based on a list by Clem Clements, these are hills in England, Wales and the Isle of Man of 100 ft prominence and between 1000 ft and 500 metres in height; the division below Deweys, in effect. There are an estimated 1712 Clements. Donald Deweys Based on a list compiled by Rob Woodall of the Relative Hills of Britain Yahoo group, these are the Scottish equivalent of the Deweys; i.e. hills higher than 500 metres with 100ft prominence not already on other lists. There are 1015 of them. I have been calling them the Woodalls on these pages in the past. Yeamans In 1989 Dr Eric Yeaman published a bumper list of Scottish mountains, including all those with a reascent of 100 ft plus others qualifying by a measure of distance. Purely for the purposes of these pages, however, I'm counting a hill as a Yeaman only if it's between 1000ft and 500 metres in height, i.e.

it's not already listed as a Munro, Corbett (or Corbett Top), Graham (or Graham Top) or Woodall. In effect my Yeamans list is the Scottish equivalent of the Clements. There are 2326 of them. HuMPs HuMPs are a superset of Marilyns; the acronym means "Hundred Metre Prominences". Thus the HuMPs are all British hills with a hundred metre (roughly 330 ft) prominence regardless of height. They encompass the Marilyns, sub-Marilyns and others. The HuMPs serve two purposes; they give seasoned Marilyn baggers yet more hills to tick, and they also introduce a purely metric British hill list for the first time. There are currently 2985 HuMPs, of which just 820 lay outside Scotland. One practical difficulty facing any aspiring HuMP bagger is that a good many of the lesser ones have no public access whatsoever, often being situated on working farmland. Another is that the HuMPs include a summit that is arguably the most difficult in Britain - the Old Man of Hoy, a fearsome sea-stack in the Orkneys.

A definitive list of HuMPs has been compiled by Mark Jackson. ThuMPs ThuMPs are purely my own invention; the list contains nothing new but is simply a collection of all lists of hills of 100ft (i.e. 30 metre) prominence. I wanted a list that would start with the Murdos (in Scotland) and the Hewitts (in England) but would extend down to 1000ft of altitude. Thus it is a combination of the Murdos, Corbetts and tops, Grahams and tops, Hewitts, Deweys, Donald Deweys, Clements and Yeamans. It doesn't include any hills less than 1000ft high. Other Lists Many other lists have been published, many of them relatively recently, and it's worth mentioning them here. John Rooke Corbett, as well as his list of Scottish 2500 ft summits, also drew up a list of English 2500 ft summits in 1911. It was published in the Rucksack Journal. It was revised in the 1920's and later amended by Edward Moss in 1933.

In the same year W T Elmslie published a list of English 2000 ft hills. F H Simpson followed up in 1937 with a list of Lake District 2000 ft summits, using more accurate mapping. Edward Moss extended Simpson's list with one covering the whole of England in 1939 and then Wales in 1940. He subsequently published a number of updates. George Bridge was next on the scene, his 1973 list covering 2000 ft summits in England and Wales using a criterion based on a relative-height-plus-distance formula. Another list of English summits, compiled by Nick Wright, appeared in 1974. Chris Buxton and Gwyn Lewis published a more comprehensive English / Welsh 2000 ft summit list in 1986, with a reascent criterion of just 10 metres - consequently this list includes a great many minor tops. Finally, Richard Moss, the son of Edward Moss, maintains an internet database of English / Welsh hills based on his father's tables. It cross references these with the lists of Dawson (i.e.

Hewitts), Nuttall, Bridge, Buxton & Lewis, and Wright. The concept of Relative Height Relative height (otherwise known as prominence) is a slightly tricky concept to grasp if you don't instinctively understand it first off. In essence it's the minimum net height you have to reascend to reach the summit of a given hill from any higher ground. It's a measure of how well it stands apart from its neighbours in terms of elevation. For a more detailed description see A way to visualise relative height is to imagine that sea level can rise and fall. To determine the relative height of any given hill, imagine that the sea rises just enough to cut your hill off completely from all higher ground. The relative height is your hill's elevation above the new, imaginary, sea level. Summit lists that rely on the concept of relative height, such as the Marylins, therefore list hills of individuality - those that stand out from their neighbours. A consequence of such a list is that it always includes the principal summit of any upland area but will tend to leave out the minor tops or "bumps".

Upland plateaux such as Dartmoor tend to have few summits with a significant prominence, whereas "peaky" areas such as Kintail will have plenty. Ultimately, though, even lists based on relative height are going to have boring summits as well as exciting ones. The concept of aesthetic appeal just can't be based on numbers. Munro Bagging: What is it all about? Munro Bagging: What is it all about? Posted on Feb 03, 2015 by Jonathan Willet Do you know your Munros from your Corbetts? Did you even know about Grahams? Wilderness Guide and walking fanatic, Jonathan Willet explains the specifics and history of Scotland’s mountain classifications. Sunrise view across Assynt with Suilven in the distance. (Credit: Colin Prior) The term Munro is bandied about when talking about certain Scottish mountains, perhaps less well know are Corbetts and Grahams. What do all these terms mean and who were they named after? Well they are all to do with hills of a certain height but unfortunately Corbetts are not named after Ronnie, the diminutive comedian .

Spidean Coire nan Clach of Beinn Eighe. (1010 m) What is a Munro? Sir Hugh Munro was an original member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) and in 1891 he wrote an article for their journal with a definitive list of all the mountains in Scotland over 3000 feet, using maps and taking barometer readings at the top to check their heights, whose summits were of “sufficient separation” from their neighbouring tops. He did not define exactly what “sufficient separation” was and this has lead to a great deal of debate. His original list was made up of 538 summits with 282 being “Munros”. It is not clear when these mountains became known as Munros, but the popularisation of “Munro-bagging” seems to have started with the publication of a book by Hamish Brown, Hamish’s Mountain Walk , in 1974. It documented his four month self-propelled journey (apart from some ferry crossings) round all the Munros. By the 1980’s it was becoming a very popular hobby.

So much so that there was even a BBC series called the Munro Show presented, in a light-hearted manner, by Muriel Gray in the early 1990’s. Many found the pronunciations of the tricky mountain names by Sorley MacLean, a great poet from Raasay, very memorable. The first person to complete the Munros is said to be the Rev. A.E Robertson of Rannoch in 1901, but there is some doubt if he did them all. The first confirmed completion (plus the tops) was in 1923 by Ronald Burn. The view from the summit of Beinn Damh at 903m What is a Corbett? Corbetts are hills between 2500 and 3000ft (762-914.4m) with a 500ft (152.4m) drop between them. They are named after John Rooke Corbett who was a very active member of the SMC between the two World Wars.

He climbed all the hills in Scotland over 2000ft and in 1930 completed all the Munros and tops, only the second person to do so. There are currently 220 Corbetts. Nearing the summit of Suilven at 731 m What is a Graham? Grahams are hills between 2000 and 2499ft (610-761m) with a 150m drop between them. They used to be known as Lesser Corbetts (LCs or Elsies) but had the name Graham conferred on them in memory of Fiona Torbet (nee Graham) who published her own list of these hills in 1992. There are currently 224 Grahams. With more accurate measuring some hills go up a level others down, currently there are 282 Munros and 509 tops. But the best advice is forget the classification and look at the hills on their own merits as all three have some cracking days out. Do you know how many Munro, Grahams or Corbetts you have summited?

Question: What is the name given to a mountain in Scotland with a height that is over 3000 feet?
Answer: Munro